“This is not my decision; I have no alternative”. Perceptions and experiences of marriage age and family planning among Syrian women and men: a primary care study

Abstract

Purpose: Reproductive health includes the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide. In this context, both women and men have rights. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the obstacles in using these rights and to describe perceptions on marriage and family planning (FP) of Syrian women and men and to increase awareness for developing new policies on the Primary Health Care. Methods: The study was conducted using qualitative method, consisting of in-depth interviews with 54 participants; 43 women and 11 men who had to emigrate from varied regions of Syria at different times since 2011. Syrian women living in Hatay, in the south of Turkey were identified from Primary Health Care Center. Most of the Syrian women had given birth to the first two children before the age of 20 years. The interviewees were selected by purposive and snowball sampling. Results: The result was examined under seven headings: knowledge about FP and contraceptive methods, hesitation about contraceptive methods, emotional pressure of family and fear of maintaining marriage, embarrassing of talking about sexuality and contraception, the effects of belief and culture on contraception, psychological reflections of war, and changes in the perception of health during the process of immigration. The most significant factors affecting the approaches to FP and contraceptive methods of the women in this study were determined to be education, traditions, economic status, and religious beliefs. The most important factors affecting participants’ FP and contraceptive method approaches are education, cultural beliefs, economic status, and religious beliefs. Conclusions: The primary healthcare centers are at a very strategical point for offering FP services to help address patients’ unmet contraceptive needs and improve pregnancy outcomes. More attention should be paid to social determinants that influence the access to reproductive health. Moreover, efforts can be done to address gender inequality that intercept FP. The most important strategy for primary health systems to follow the gender barriers that hinder access to FP services and men are empowered to share responsibility for FP.

Research progress of health care in Yemeni children during the war: review

“…Therefore, displaced/refugee women often face more problems related to women and reproductive health than locally residing women. Among the most important of these problems is the lack of family planning services, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and obstetric complications (Döner and Şahin, 2021).…”

Influences on reproductive decision-making among forcibly displaced women resettling in high-income countries: a scoping review and thematic analysis

“…Reproductive decision-making (RDM) has been defined as, “If and when to have a child or children, the timing, spacing and number of those children; and choices about whether or not to utilise mechanisms for controlling fertility including contraception, assisted reproduction, and abortion” [ 16 ] (p.10). Cultural and religious beliefs have been found to influence forcibly displaced women’s RDM [ 17 , 18 ], for example, forbidding abortion and certain types of contraception [ 18 ], and beliefs that women’s fertility is controlled by God [ 17 ]. Women in refugee camps have been found to endure gender-based violence (especially sexual violence) more frequently, and several restraints on their reproductive autonomy including restricted access to contraception and abortion [ 19 ].…”